Dry Wrinkly skin

[BHReptiles]

I would soak him, our little one had a horrible shed when we first got him due to shedding the day after coming out of the shipping bag. You can do it in stages. We soaked him the first time and got some of it to peel off his sides and back. Put him back in his home to chill out for a few hours, repeated and got some more off, kept misting his tank obsessively. If you soak him for a while, the skin will loosen up enough that some of the pieces will flake off on their own.

When it came to the head, we just went about it super gently. We went about the whole process over two days, and it honestly probably took us two hours of combined time to tease the skin away. I was mostly concerned that we'd get the eye caps.

I wouldn't touch the eye caps. You can seriously injure your snake's eyes permanently if you do. If you are insisting on getting the shed off the head (which, in my opinion, should just be left alone until the snake sheds next), you can take a Q-tip and dip it in some olive oil. Have one person hold the head, the next work off the skin.

But like I said, if you get the majority of the body off, then leave the head until the next shed. It may not look as pretty, but it's better for your snake and you won't risk injuring it or stressing it out if you just leave it alone.

[cschneider]

If your snake doesn't like to soak, I highly recommend putting him in a wet cloth bag or pillow case that is tied at the top. They will slither around trying to get out and in the process the shed will come off. Make sure you put it on a heat source in the enclosure so he doesn't get too cold.

Also if the eye caps don't come off in the bag/pillowcase, you can put visine drops on them. Sometimes this will get them to come off, but I wouldn't touch them with anything. You could do permanent damage.


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[dav4]

I've had issues with humidity recently (my quarantine container is a 10gal tank with CHE for heat), and both recent quarrantinees have had BAD sheds. A friend with lots of snake experienced suggested this as a remedy and it worked like a charm with little stress placed on the snake. Get a plastic tupperware/shoebox container with a removable lid. Cut a hole out of the top to allow the snake to move in/out. Place some moist paper towels on the bottom and place it in the tank. The ambient humidity in the container will stay close to 100%. I actually put the snake's normal hid, a small terracotta pot, inside the container, and my snake loved it. After just 1 day, pretty much all of the retained shed (which was close to 60%) was gone.

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[royal constrictor]

And that method won't cause scale rot since he's laying on wet papertowels for an extended period of time... Thank you for all your guys advice. I got all the shed off up until the neck so now I'm just working on the head which seems to be the most difficult part because there is no tear at the nose

[kitedemon]

I suspect your hygrometer is wrong. @ 45%rh i would not expect to see a snake look like yours does. The most recommended hygrometer here is specd at +/- 15%rh this is if it is perfectly fine digital units are very frail they are easily effected by dirt and junk and any damage to the cable plus a plethora of manufacturing issues. They can be tested but personally I'd not bother. The cost of the test kit is almost as much as a good analogue one that can be tested with table salt.

This is the one I recommend...

http://www.amazon.com/Analog-Hygrome...gue+hygrometer

[royal constrictor]

well i have an analogue as well as a digital and they are always within 5% of eachother so im guessing im within the ball park... i will definitely be looking into a more accurite one for sure though ... having three wont hurt. his lower jaw started to peel on the right side, so i think im getting close, i just dont want to hurt the newest member to my family.

[dav4]

And that method won't cause scale rot since he's laying on wet papertowels for an extended period of time... Thank you for all your guys advice. I got all the shed off up until the neck so now I'm just working on the head which seems to be the most difficult part because there is no tear at the nose

The paper towels are moist, not wet...a big difference. Also, this is a temporary situation...usually less then a week. My friend has used it to pre-emptively help bad shedders shed. A mentioned above, I used it to help remove what's left of a bad shed...most of the shed falls away within a day.

[royal constrictor]

nice, if all else fails i think ill give it try... thanks for the help